Let’s say you’re thrust headlong into a dogfight engagement in space. Era and galaxy of your choosing. What would the real-world physics look like?

Below is an image of the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle Atlantis crossing the sun. It’s a 1024 wide image, about 350k. The original high resolution and info about the shot can be gotten here.

What’s really mindboggling is that sun is 93 million miles away. It’s a bigun!

Or at least sex appeal. I realize this because Anousheh Ansari is going into space as the first woman space tourist and she’s hot. Hot in in that classy, powerful woman way, as opposed to Paris Hilton, who is mildy amusing on her best day and therefore not really hot.

But sending hot, sexy people suddenly makes space travel more interesting to the general public. Everyone wants to see what hot people are doing or even copy them. Because if you do what sexy people do, you’re sexy too, right? Or at least sexier than that drab thing you call life.

Luckily, others have thought of this, as Madonna has been cleared for flight around 2008.

If only NASA was aware of these things.

Yay, Discovery launched into orbit! I always get a lump in my throat whenever people go off into space. For a few moments it seems like all is right with humanity and we’re working together to do great things.

Having a space shuttle must be neat. ‘Cept for when it’s raining, cause then you can’t use it.